Super Smash Bros. Melee
|caption = North American box art. |developer = HAL Laboratory |publisher = Nintendo |designer = Masahiro Sakurai |series = |director = Masahiro Sakurai |producer = Hiroaki Suga Shigeru Miyamoto |designer = |programmer = |artist = |writer = |composer = Hirokazu Ando Shogo Sakai Tadashi Ikegami |format = |release = Gamecube JPNovember 21, 2001 NADecember 3, 2001 EUMay 24, 2002 ASMay 31, 2002 |genre = Fighting |mode = Single-player, multiplayer |rating = ESRB: T ELSPA: 11+ ELSPA: 3+ (re-rating) PEGI: 3+ OFLC: G8+|undefined|undefined|undefined|undefined |platform = Nintendo GameCube |requirement = 11 blocks of memory (an additional 2 or more blocks are needed for each snapshot saved) |input = }} Super Smash Bros. Melee ( ), often shortened to "''SSBM" or "Melee", is a crossover fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube developed by Hal Laboratory, Inc. and published by Nintendo. It was released in late 2001 in North America and Japan, shortly after GameCube's launch, and early 2002 in Europe. Like Super Smash Bros., its predecessor, Melee features gameplay unique from that of other fighting games. Compared to characters in other fighting games, Melee characters have simple movesets and lack complicated button inputs and lengthy natural combos. In contrast, however, Melee greatly emphasizes movement and ringouts. Indeed, the edgeguarding in Melee takes on much more significance than it does in most other games due to copious mid-air jumps and other methods of reaching the edge unfettered. This was Nintendo's first T-rated game. In the Super Smash Flash series Super Smash Bros. Melee proved to be so successful and more popular than its predecessor, it started a tendency of numerous fan game clones around the web, which usually incorporated characters owned by Nintendo but also added a wish-list of characters hailing from third-party companies. These games were usually limited by their software and featured a small roster, few stages and very few game modes. Additionally, some were buggy and uncomfortable to play. Only a few of these fan games gained recognition. In 2006, a vivid Super Smash Bros. fan called Gregory McLeod, mainly known by his alias Cleod9, started developing a Flash Sonic fan game with little help from fellow users of the McLeodGaming Forums. Having previously tested early Smash Bros. fan games, such as Super Smash X, and being displeased with them, Cleod9 came to the decision of transforming his Sonic project into a Flash Smash engine. This decision resulted in the creation of Super Smash Flash, which was based on Melee and took resemblance to it in several ways. For example, Super Smash Flash shared several characters and stages from the game, and the menu infrastructure is based on that of Melee, including the music and sound effects ripped from the original game. As the game proved to be very popular, a reboot (initially called a sequel) called Super Smash Flash 2 is currently in the final stages of development. This game takes many Melee elements gameplay-wise. Certain characters were meant to play similarly to how they play in Melee. Characters including have sprite designs based on their appearance in this game. Certain characters also have their voice clips from this game. Certain techniques such as power shielding and jump-canceled grabs were also taken from this game. Characters This game marks the first appearance of Sandbag, an anthropomorphic bag character who was used as a punching bag to launch in Home-Run Contest. While he fills the same role in SSF2, he also appears as a fully playable character. Moves Most of the characters appearing in this game in SSF, such as , , , , and , were given movesets in this game mostly based on their movesets in this game, albeit with many differences due to limitations. However, most of these limitations have been remedied in SSF2, and characters such as , , , , , and are meant to play much more similarly to how they play in Melee. Stages The majority of the stages in SSF are based on other stages from this game. Of these, , , , and Pokémon Stadium are direct recreations of the original stages' designs and layouts, while Peach's Castle and share similar designs but different layouts. The stages in SSF2, on the other hand, are much more varied, but several stages from this game are included as "past stages" and are much more accurate to the original stages' designs and layouts. These include , Princess Peach's Castle, , Yoshi's Story, and Fourside. Additionally, several of the original stages take inspiration from this game's stages: Pokémon Colosseum is based on Pokémon Stadium's layout, Sand Ocean is based on Big Blue's layout, Flat Zone + is inspired by Flat Zone's design, and Mushroom Kingdom III is named as a successor to Mushroom Kingdom and Mushroom Kingdom II. Items Several items in both SSF and SSF2 are taken from this game. Only two items in SSF2, the Party Ball and Food, completely originate from this game. The rest come from different franchises, and they are based directly on their appearances in this game. These include the Super Mushroom, Poison Mushroom, Freezie, Metal Box, Mr. Saturn and Flipper. Enemies Crazy Hand, a boss first encountered in this game, appears as one of the boss characters fought in Adventure in SSF. Additionally, SSF2 features the Metal Bros., metal versions of and who originate as a miniboss in this game's Adventure mode, that appears in Classic on Hard or higher. Music An original arrangement of the theme played when fighting the Metal Bros. in this game, appropriately named Metal Bros., appears as the alternate music track of Metal Cavern in SSF2. Additionally, a short excerpt from the game's main menu theme appears as the Super Smash Bros. universe’s victory theme. See also *''Super Smash Bros.'' *''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' * *''Project M'' *''Super Smash Flash'' *''Super Smash Flash 2'' Category:Games Category:Official games Category:Super Smash Flash Category:Super Smash Flash 2 Category:Super Smash Flash series Category:Super Smash Bros. universe Category:Nintendo